Liberty X

Despite Liberty X rising to fame as runners-up in the 2001 ITV talent search show Popstars, the five-piece R&B-infused pop group quickly surpassed everybody's expectations and eventually eclipsed the success of the show's winners, Hear' Say.

Originally comprised of Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Michelle Heaton, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young, after appearing in the show they were soon noticed by Richard Branson and snapped up by his record label V2 Records. And while Hear' Say's bubble burst a little under 18 months later, Liberty X's continued to grow thanks to a succession of hit singles.

In September 2001, the group released its debut single, Thinking It Over, under the moniker of Liberty, which went to the top 5 in the charts and set the pace for a hugely successful debut album selling over a million copies worldwide.

However, after receiving a legal challenge in the High Court from an American R&B act, also called Liberty, the group was forced to add an X to the end of its name. And from there, they briefly became one of the UK's biggest pop groups.

The band stormed back with smash hit number 1 single Just A Little. The song won an Ivor Novello award, earned them a Brit Award for Best British Single, the only award voted for by the public and became the 5th most played song of the noughties.

This was then followed by Got to Have Your Love, a cover of the Mantronix classic, and Holding on for You. All three singles came from their multi-platinum debut album, Thinking It Over.

In September 2005, the group returned following an 18-month hiatus with its third and final album, X, which continued the law of diminishing returns despite the presence of hit singles Song for Lovers and the official Children in Need double A-side A Night to Remember/Everybody Dance.

May 2007 saw the band members finally announced they would no longer be recording together. Heaton and Taylor stayed in the public eye thanks largely to their marriages to former pop star Andy Scott-Lee and cricketer Kevin Pietersen, respectively.

However, five years later in October 2012, it was announced that Liberty X would be reforming for the ITV2 documentary series The Big Reunion, followed the group rehearsing for two weeks ahead of one major comeback performance at the London Hammersmith Apollo on 26 February 2013.

The group toured throughout 2013 and 2014, and since 2017, Michelle Heaton, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young have performed live at festivals, corporate and private events as a girl trio

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